Lead Encounter Designer Watcher just posted a developer blog explaining how and why Blizzard changes encounters once they're live, as well as how that affects everyone from bleeding-edge heroic raiders to those enjoying LFR.

He specifically looks at Gara'jal the Spiritbinder, Amber-Shaper Un'sok, and Will of the Emperor--encounters which either suffered from players using unintended tactics or were simply tuned to be more difficult than thought after internal testing. If you're curious how Blizzard decides which part of encounters get hotfixed and how they come up with their specific solutions, this blog is for you.

Oh, and we also really like the eyeball hanging out with the Azerothian watercooler at the top of the blog.

Heart of Fear opens October 30th on US servers on Normal mode. Terrace of Endless Spring was planned to open on October 30th, but it was changed on Friday to open in two weeks, on November 12th. We've got the loot tables and dungeon journal below for each boss, as well as 3D models of all the weapons. Most notably, players can now loot 'Sha-Touched' weapons from Heart of Fear, special weapons that can be socketed with legendary gems. This instance also drops some Tier 14 tokens.

You can check out Method's livestreams of Heart of Fear here, and check out their YouTube channel where they'll be uploading all of their kill videos.

Heart of Fear is located in central Dread Wastes, on the right side of the large sinister tree growing in the Sha-touched trench.

Mogu'shan Vaults opened October 2nd on Normal difficulty, with LFR and Heroic difficulty unlocked next week. We've got the loot tables and dungeon journal below for each boss, as well as 3D models of all the armor and weapons.

To get the t-shirt, simply log into Xbox Live. You have to visit while on the console to be eligible.

On the frontpage of Xbox Live, there's an ad for MoP that plays a video. After the video finishes, you can get the free Live avatar gear--but you have to wait until the video is done.

It asks you whether you want a Horde or Alliance shirt, and then you get the item. It's possible to get both shirts.

This promotion is US-only.

Blizzard's Tier 14 Armor Preview

Blizzard released a visual preview of Tier 14 Normal-mode armor today. We recently did a series of class previews, featuring all their Tier 14 Raid, Challenge Mode, and PvP armor sets, as well as their set bonuses:Death Kn

We're finishing up our Mists of Pandaria weapon previews with a look at 3D models from raids. In addition to the Sha-Touched weapons we previewed recently, all other weapons from LFR, Normal, and Heroic difficulty have unique colors and intricate models. There's also an unexpected bonus--we found that some Tier 9 raid models made their way to Pandaria, even some that are unobtainable since the removal of attempt-based Tribute Chests.